Cinderella of The Thirteenth Hour
by gardapati
Summary: Because sometimes the so-called knight in shining armor is actually the dropout kid, gets an F in every subject possible, grins more than she smiles, and loses more than she wins. — Muse-centric, Onmyouji!AU.
1. Chapter X: in medias res

It had to be seen to be believed, as no matter how you see it, everything had gotten past the fine line between normalcy and young adult fiction crazy. Her heart was drumming to the beats of her pounding steps, speeding through the desolate hallway in the dead of the night. Just her, sprinting through the seemingly endless hallway, her right hand holding up her phone against her ear, cursing through her gritted teeth as she listened to the robotic, mechanical voice of a woman, _to leave a voicemail, press one_, and were it not for the fact that the puny electronic device on her hand was the only lifeline of a certain person she _had _to see at the time, she would have thrown the thing outside of the grandiose, five feet tall window gracing the left side of the hallway.

She pressed one, anyway, brought the phone closer to her mouth, and while still running fervently, discomfittingly short of breath and quick-pulsed and just utterly _desperate_, she spoke with a volume that was nearer to a shout. "Hey," she paused, catching her breath for a second, "hey, listen, don't—" She paused for the second time on the call, gulping down the nervous wreck of a sentence she was trying to form. Her mind was too much of a jumbled mess to craft a short, yet effective and _coherent _sentence. Plus, talking while doing a non-stop sprinting for the past fifteen minutes or so was harder than it could ever be described, as she had to pull out the words stuck on her throat while steadying her staggering consciousness _and _sustaining the physical fatigue ripping her strenght apart. "Agh, okay, listen—don't give in to the, the—the _limiter_, alright," the hallway itself was dark enough to pass for a horror movie setting, but with her vision getting blearier by passing second, she was starting to see more and more deep black, forming by the edges of her vision, "also, hang—hang in there, I..."

_I—_...what? _I'll protect you_? _I'll save you_? Like, _protect_? _Save_? If she had the time in the world to be so whimsical, so demanding of something so _impossible_...

It's not like there was anything she can do, after all, what would one expect from _Kousaka Honoka_? The class clown, the joker, the slacker, the _failure_, an _onmyouji _who _can't even_ _use magic_, and here she was, scrambling her way to a _certain someone _so dear to her she went without a second thought to protect, to _save_, but what bugged her the most was how, although she got reluctant by each steps she took, she went with the idea in the first place.

How far would you go for a friend? Would you risk your life, no matter how worthless your existence is, for the sake of another's?

She turned a corner, her black coat slash cape flowing in mid-air behind her, and due to how dim the hallway was, she nearly crashed to the stone wall in front, whats with the only light source being the moonlight seeping through the gigantic windows. Her legs' protests were starting to be louder and clearer, and she had no choice but to slow her running down. She remembered the still running voicemail, and used the momentum to rack her brains for something, anything to be said, because _I'll save you _sounded too gallant, too out of the world for her.

"—I...wish you the best of luck!"

How many times had she futilely sent voicemail messages after another in hope of any response, _anything_, to prove her that _she _is alright, safe and sound and alive and kicking, that _she_'ll live for another day, will be there to reprimand her of her dumb antics, will be there to watch over her awkward, stumbling back.

For the umpteenth time, she dialed a number she knew all too well, prayed for even a word of response from the other line, only to get her hopes shot down by the long, long chain of ringing that predictably ended with the short, simple, stern-sounding voicemail she had subconsciously memorized every of the words of, and it made her feeling indescribably shitty inside. She clicked her tongue, dialed the number once again, and left another voicemail, each getting more and more desperate than the last.

She checked the time; the monitor of her phone lit up and flashed a _23:58_, her frown deepened as she forced her legs to plunge faster to her destination.

Eventually, she saw something resembling an end to her initially thought never-ending journey through the dim hallway. Fears and worries circled her mind while countless scenarios ran in her head, more often of her discovering _her _body, cold and lifeless, sprawled on the floor still with _her _perpetual frown etched on her face. No matter how many times she tried to quash down the haunting thought of _her _being dead, that she was a second, a minute, an hour, an eternity too late, it kept cropping back up, reminding her of how…_foolish _she had been. Was she trying to play hero? To salvage what left of her crumbling self-esteem?

And then she halted her running, a large door, painted haunting deep shade of blue, stood before her, tall and overpowering. She passed her phone to her stupid hand while her trembling right hand caressed the surface of the door. She was only a hair-breadth away from _her_, but the realization dawned on her, hitting her like a torrent of fists when she realized it'll take more than a push to open the door.

Perhaps the Gods up there decided it'll be a funny prank; the surface of the doors had chains crossing here and there, as if guarding whatever is there behind, with locks, hanging limply from the chains, screaming '_no entry_' to any trespasser. Despair pooled inside her stomach when she realized that the black-colored locks have nothing resembling a _keyhole _on it, ruling out any possibilities except that the locks were planted with magic, or at least something akin to that.

The time was running out. Honoka wrestled some small, folded papers of _ofuda_ out of her skirts pocket, pulled the one with its chant written in red ink, smacked the paper to the lock and muttered a chant with her hands clasped, raised to the level of her face. Flowed the right amount of _ki_, the _ofuda _will explode in the same vein as bombs. "C'mon," she grunted helplessly, "not now – please, ugh, please _work_…!"

It was kind of hilarious in a twisted way – how she was so close, yet so _far _from whatever was there behind the sealed shut door.

Then her head jerked upward, her heart nearly jumped out of her ribs, as she heard ringing of a large in size bell, echoing through the academy, shattering the devoid silence enshrouding up till then. Honoka had her eyes widen in a mixture of shock and horror, and for an instant she was terrified she would burst out into insane, braying, uncontrollable laugh. Her hands went limp and fell to her sides, robbed of its strength. She stayed like that for a minute or two; just hovered there, staring all smudgy and bleary and out of focus at _that damned _door.

She felt her phone vibrated inside the pocket of her skirt. She wrestled the device out, staring at the monitor, blinking with the number of her caller flashed for her to see, and found herself contemplating whether to reject the call altogether. Emotions was running rampant inside her mind and she had enough on her plate already. She let out one long exhale before holding up the phone against her ear.

"_Honoka_," she heard Eri's voice, calm and reasonable even through the phone's metallic muffle, so cool-headed, so, _so_, "_Honoka, are you there?_"

Phone still on her hand, she rubbed her temple with her other hand distractedly, in hope of subsiding the headache tearing her from inside. "Yeah," she tried to sound as calm and subdued, but she knew she failed miserably, "I'm here, alive and kickin'."

"_Honoka..._"

"I know, Eri-chan," she heard herself said, in a faint, little wheeze, before pausing for a stretched second, and began once more after steadying her hitching breath, "I know, I mean, I—" once again she fell into a pause, this time abruptly, actually pressed her hand on her mouth. I _what_, now? _I failed to _save _her_? Her whole face throbbed and the sickening feeling of powerlessness lurched deep inside her. "I—...failed," she said finally, low and soft, almost a whisper. Her left hand fell to her side once again, and her eyes blinked once, twice, as it got watery, "I _can't _do it, after all."

This time, Eri paused on her own. Honoka used the momentary calm to at least, suppress the raging urge to burst into tears – at least not when she's on the phone with her friend. She felt like a crap already, there was no need to infect others with such negativity too...

At long last, Eri spoke, "_It's alright. We're done here, we—"_ Honoka heard Eri catching her breath, and deduced that the girl was probably on her way here, "_—we will be there in a sec_. _Hang on, okay?_"

"Okay."

"_Don't worry, she'll be alright. We'll find a way together." _

"Yup."

"_Everything will be alright. We...we can do this_."

Eri hung up, and it went quiet once again. She lowered her head, face-down to the marble floor, trying her best to brave through her mental tornado. "Sorry," she heard herself say, her lips tugged upwards into a sickening smile, her hands balled into a fist, tightening so hard she might tear her own skin apart, "_sorry_, Umi-chan."

Given a sudden heap of energy born from her own frustration, she banged her balled fists onto the door hard she feared her bones broken and askew, and cried out a river, face wet and burning, smoldered with violent outburst of her emotions. She knew how pathetic she looked at the time, but didn't do anything about it, simply because she was too _tired _to even care.

* * *

**Notes**: [1] Another multi-chaptered fic. I just had to get rid of this plot bunny, it's been gnawing on my mind for the past few weeks. Ergh.

[2] Just in case you don't understand what an _onmyouji _is, it's Japan's equivalent of exorcist...kind of, since they do the spirit exorcising business. (I know right – that's so _anime_!)

[3] I haven't really plan out the pairings since this fic will mostly focus on the friendship and camaraderie between the members of Muse, though suggestions are welcome. (crickets chirping) ...I know, I know folks. Niko/Maki will be one of the pairings. /shot

[4] I know this chapter doesn't really make sense, but what's a better way to start a series than a cold, in medias res opening? :P

[5] Please give me some feedbacks; I do know that my writing is very lacking in terms of...everything, really. Please tell me if you spot a grammatical and/or a spelling error!

[6] Until then, see you later, and stay tuned!


	2. Chapter 1: FRAGMENT—juliet (1)

**Notes**: [1] Shout-outs:

**KidoTsubomi22**: Everything about the first chapter was supposed to be a mystery, at least until we got to the arc where the first chapter took place, don't worry. Stay tuned!  
**Guest**: Thank you, ahaha. Oh my Honokami, another Honoka/Umi shipper? Sadly, you're an anon. We should bond some other time, haha.  
**theyurimaster**: Thank you, and yes, I will!  
**CleideJam**: Thanks. Hopefully you can stick around, at least a little while longer!  
**danganronpa**: Thank you! While the concept of _onmyouji _is certainly nothing new, I hope I can turn it into something interesting, haha.  
**Satsuki Rin**: Yes, I have to agree, writing Honoka so powerless kinda threw me off too. She just seemed like the person who can bend the universe to her liking…_subconsciously_. Anyway, just to clear some confusions, the first chapter was an "in medias res" opening of the sorts, so chronogically, it happened much later into the story. I personally ship the second-years as a fluffy, delicious threesome, and haven't tried the idea of Honoka/Kotori, but I will consider it. Thank you for your suggestion!

* * *

Mondays are magical in their own way – at least she thought so. A second equals to a day, a day equals to an age, as if the day itself was a by-product of every "_I wish the time would freeze so this moment will never end_" wishes God collected in their eternity-old mailbox. The teacher droned on and on, technique this, technique that, flow your _ki _the right amount, _were you even listening? _The prospect of a school centered in magic was mind-bogglingly cool the first few weeks, but it got tedious really fast. Chants to learn, histories to memorize, potentials to realize...

Which was pretty much why she was sprawled over her desk, her head on her crossed arms, her pencil rolling to the edge, teetering, half hanging mid-air while the other half was still there, barely holding its own above the old, crappy wooden desk. It was _not _understandable how such grandiose academy claimed ignorance on its furnishings and that irked her to no end, since the government upholds _onmyoudo _like no tomorrow, and even utilized it in its military, and thus the special attention the higher-ups of the nation gave to the _onmyouji_s, so there was no such thing as a perfectly reasonable reason _why _their school desks looked like something from Emperor Jimmu's era.

Her eyes kept flickering now and then to the clock, then to the speaker hung on the top-right corner of the class, then to the clock again, and that pretty much summed up her life for the past couple of hours. She herself had gone restless, and had been tapping her feet in impatience until the teacher glared daggers at her and she decided that staying still was more worth it than standing in the hallway with a bucketful of water at each hand. Her grades were bad enough, and her reputation amongst the faculty office was far from satisfying. That, and there was _really _no need to anger a certain Sonoda Umi further.

Well, at least Kotori was more lenient when it comes to her filled-to-the-brim-with-youth school life.

Just when she closed her eyes, she abruptly opened them back up when the speaker blared with the familiar ringing of glory and freedom. Just when she stood from her seat, back straightened, ready to bolt her way out of the Hell that is classroom, her school bag ready on her shoulder.

...until she felt a hand gripping her shoulder so _hard_, she squeaked in a really girlish and embarrassing way and nearly flew to the ceiling, her face slowly losing its color and tried her best not to whirl around to face the person behind her, simply because she feared for her dear life. "I, um," Honoka started, trying to settle herself down so to not sound too much like the air did had been knocked out of her, "I'm busy. Like, really busy, sorry!" The iron grip on her shoulder tightened. "Umi-chan!"

"I'm sorry, Honoka, but it seems you have a _lot _of explaining to do," even without looking at her, Honoka felt the calm, yet chilling in a haunting way frown on her childhood friend's face, jabbing into her staggering consciousness, "it can wait, right? It's not like the cafeteria is going anywhere."

_No, the thing that will be going somewhere is my soul, you know, to up there, beyond the cloud…_

"Kotori-chan…" She turned to left, seeking help from her other childhood friend, eyes pleading and barely watery, which the girl responded with an apologetic smile, hands clasped in front to showcase the sincerity. Honoka sighed as she resigned to her fate.

* * *

At times she found herself mulling over a question in a rare philosophical mood, or just when she's depressed enough already with her grades and _magical _school life hijinks, and this time were not different. She stared at her own eyes, from close enough for her breath to fog in the mirror, her left hand gripping the edge of the sink while, the other ruffling the back of her head in frustration and fatigue. Having to sit through the class for hours was something, but taking a remedial class _after _she was just done with the regular, normal 'ol class was just pushing it.

The trip to faculty office was another Hell. En route, Umi didn't stop lecturing her about her short attention-span that even a _goldfish _can do better than her. The trip back from the office was more tiring than fury-inducing, and Umi kept silent the whole time, and Honoka was kind of grateful for that. Honoka asked Umi whether it's okay to stop by the toilet first and Umi simply nodded, and they docked to a nearby one that was empty save the two of them.

"Not my fault I can't use magic, you know," she started, dry with exhaustion roughening her words, "I mean, sure, I'm the _only one _who can't shoot fireballs out of those paper talismans, or summon a _shikigami _to do house chores, or, I dunno, creates a giant man-eating Godzilla with a flick of fingers, but, _c'mon_," turning on the sink below the mirror, she splashed her face both her hands and rubbed it as if to wash away the tiredness sagging her eyes down. Facing the reflected Honoka on the mirror, she had to admit she looked no different than she was five minutes ago. Or maybe, even worse, if the even more slumped shoulders were any indication.

Umi heaved a sigh from beside her, arms crossed and Honoka saw the Umi reflected on the mirror side-eyeing her, lips tugged downwards into a deep frown, one that seemed to have to be surgically removed. "There's no such thing as an _onmyouji _who can't use magic," she said matter-of-factly, which in turn successfully made Honoka wince in annoyance, "I'm sure that you actually _can_, or maybe eventually. Something within you is stopping your flow of _ki_, and thus why you have troubles with performing _onmyoudou _arts."

"That's the fifth time in a week I've heard that," she hung her head in response, her dripping wet hands fell to her sides as her shoulders slumped even more than before, if that was even possible. She pursed her lips in thoughtfulness while studying the ceiling, and contemplated on the possibility. Well, sure, _maybe _she actually had the talent after all, and, well, she was an _onmyouji_, she can see spirits, she can touch them, she can…beat them up to their demise, if she wanted to. But the question that lingered was why she was different from her other peers, why she can't even use a spell as simple as the lock-breaking spell, which they taught on the first year. She _failed _the easiest, simplest, there's-no-way-you-can-fail-this _onmyoudou _class on her third day of school. If that didn't just scream how screwed up she will be for the next three years…

Umi let out another sigh, this time seemingly out of hitting the dead end rather than frustration over her childhood friend's endangered grades. She spun around and leaned her back on the sink beside the one Honoka had used, her eyes drawn to the bathroom stall in front of her. "In any case, we'll have to do something about your make-up assignment."

"Right." She groaned at the reminder, her expression went sour. She had another round of splash to her face, introducing the cold, chilling water to her weary complexion. "Nnngg…helping out those three problematic first-years, huh?"

"Hoshizora Rin, Koizumi Hanayo, Nishikino Maki," Umi recounted for her, holding up three fingers, "the deadline is at the end of next week, so let's start by meeting one of them in person and solve their problems one at a time."

Honoka decided she had woken up enough, turned off the sink, then wiped the water off her palms onto her skirt. Umi shot a nasty look at her hands, but let the cue to reprimand her of her manner slip away. "Which one of them was the hardest to talk to?"

"I think that would be Koizumi Hanayo." Umi turned to her and her face sharpened. "You might want to take on Nishikino Maki's case the last. I've heard things about her – and they're not exactly…pleasant."

"Koizumi Hanayo-chan it is, then!"

A chuckle escaped out of Umi's lips, and it was kind of infectious, and soon she choked out a hearty laugh, contrary to the fatigued state she was in some minutes ago. If there was one thing she was pretty good at, maybe it's her skill to quickly rebound out of teeny-wangst. "On the other hand, I'm sorry, but I can't help you with this one, but with Kotori, I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Gee, Umi-chan, I can do this by myself, you know!" She turned to face the honor student with a tongue stuck out. "Anyway, did you get yourself knee-deep into a trouble or…?"

"I have a matter to attend to, but there's no need for you to worry about me. Also, what, _trouble_? I am not a certain Kousaka Honoka, you know." Umi shrugged, a rare, sincere smile (not the polite one she put up when there's authority, it's…_different_, warmer, and _comfier_) graced her lips as she eased past Honoka towards the exit.

"Umi-chan!"

* * *

The academy divided the complex into two; the west side for the boys whilst the east for the girls. A teacher coined it as the academy's attempt to retain the "purity" (as in, the purity of the mind, perhaps, as reportedly, _love _is one of the driving force behind an _onmyouji_'s fall that leads to their demise…) of the young _onmyoujis_ in-training, as the teenager phase was one where the mouth ran faster than the mind, ego the size of the Pacific, and emotional control amounting to nearly nil. As such, interactions between male and female students were kept to the minimum, and day by day it felt like enrolling to a prestigious one-gender school instead. It was, as a teacher put it, a _quasi-co-ed_ school.

Very, very contradictory to the sight she beheld. Honoka remembered entering the first-year dormitory with Kotori following behind, both walking in coolly and back straightened and steps so, so sure – it was the perks of being a senior amidst the junior eyeing their every movements, question marks on their faces, _what are those second-years doing in the freshmen dorm_? Some with their eyes veiled with doubt and suspicion, as bullying cases weren't exactly uncommon. They were in _teenager phase _after all, the raging urge to make someone of the lower hierarchy your very own bread-shuttle blood, the aversion to believe with eyes, and instead, with ears – it's all in the long and arduous path to adulthood. Now, the problem lied on the…_girl _in front of her, whom she randomly tapped the shoulder to ask for some information regarding one particular Koizumi Hanayo.

Short haircut, shorts instead of their usual black skirt, her blazer unbuttoned all the way to the very bottom with a light green hoodie beneath…Honoka ran her eyes from the underclassman's head to her toes to back to her head, and wondered whether the person standing in front of her was one of the chromosome Y. The girl, on the other hand, fidgeted under Honoka and Kotori's gazes, her leg doing a half-pivot out of nervousness.

Kotori nudged her from behind. Apparently, years of being stuck with each other synchronized their minds enough for them to communicate even by a single jab of finger.

Honoka cleared her throat, trying for professional look. "Are you new here? Since this is the girls' dorm, and the boys' is on the other side," Honoka said in a low, confidential tone, her left hand stretched out towards the exit. She heard a few underclassmen snickering behind her back and mentally noted to knock down a respect or two into their pretty little heads.

Her junior arched an eyebrow, and brought an arm to the back of her head. She smiled sheepishly, and at the same time, the kind of smile born out of suppressing laughter down the throat. "Um, Senpai, actually, I'm a girl."

Honoka went quiet, contemplating whether to proceed to the business coolly or quickly cover her face with a hand while the other grab Kotori's and dash out of the building for the sake of her senior pride. While the latter tempted her to no end, she knew Kotori would drag her back here just seconds after she stepped foot outside, and life to Kousaka Honoka is a game where you're presented with pre-determined choices.

Before she could muster up a reply, though, Kotori held up a hand defensively and flung an apology, face contorted with guilt. "A, ah, we're truly sorry! You look so boyish, we thought you are a boy…"

"Don'tcha worry, nyaa!" Honoka noticed how the nervousness in the girl had gone without leaving a single trace, and she sighed in relief inwardy.

"A-anyway, sorry about before," she gave up trying to present herself with a respectable, higher-up aura and decided to just act naturally, "can we ask you a thing or two?"

"Sure, if Rin can be of any help!"

"Okay, Rin-chan, it is, then?" Kotori stretched her polite smile a little wider, "do you know a student by the name of Koizumi Hanayo?"

And that was when Rin's smile crumbled, dissolving into a border between a smile and a frown – something unreadable and _foreign_, something Honoka didn't expect from the girl with the cat-like grin and overall warm disposition, and it caught her off-guard. How on earth can a happy-go-lucky looking girl switch into something murderous in a span of five seconds?

"Why're you looking for Kayo-chin?" Rin replied to her, words a tad bit venomous; subtle, but it's there, "sorry, but, I can't tell,"

Rin's sudden unwillingness to help drove her into an offensive stance, as she took a step forward to the shorter girl. "Wait, why? C'mon, the teacher sent me to help her with whatever troubling her right now!"

It was the way Rin returned her semi-glare with her own, her hands in loose, flexing fists, her brows knitted, and everything about her screamed "ready to pounce on you, buddy". Honoka herself, was left with no option but to tread on the subject lightly, cautiously, as it was obvious that Rin had a strong connection to Koizumi Hanayo – and she might prove to be a crucial piece in the case of Koizumi Hanayo, and an ally to make.

"Rin-chan," Kotori tried next, "it's alright; we just want to talk with Koizumi Hanayo-chan, really," That, at least, didn't carve another line between Rin's brows – not that she looked any happier from before, but at the very least, it was something. At least from where Honoka could see.

"Please," Honoka heard herself say, in a tone so subdued, solemn and something she didn't expect from herself, "please _believe _in _us_."

There was a pause, and Honoka knew that Rin was waging an internal war, considering her and Kotori's words. The glazing eyes, out of focus and directed at her feet, the way her fists was let loose, the way her lips curled back from her teeth, it was obvious that their words somehow got through her. At long last, Rin's eyes went up from being oddly fixated on someone else's shoes to Honoka's own and she struggled with a grin. "Guess Rin can trust you senpais, nyaa," hearing that, Honoka hissed a long sigh of relief, "after all, you don't seem to be working in some kind of backstreet alliance with _her_!"

If only she didn't notice the striking emphasis on the _her_, she would've jumped out of joy. "Wait, wait a sec, _her_?"

"Yup," Rin answered, half-muttering, and the grin disappearing bit by bit, as if the mere answer behind her lips was enough to sent her into a fleeting thought, something far away beyond Honoka, "there's this girl, who's been, nngg, _stalking _Kayo-chin," she paused, and this time she redirected her eyes to the side, staring straight to a group of girls gossiping beside a vending machine, "I dunno, Rin doesn't really know what it is that she's after, but I hope she can stop bothering Kayo-chin already."

Kotori inquired further. "If we may know, who this girl might be…?"

"Mm, she's a classmate of Rin and Kayo-chin. Her name is **Nishikino Maki**."

* * *

Chapter 1: FRAGMENT/juliet (1)

* * *

**Notes**: [2] *Drumrolls* Here we go: the first arc, Kayo-chin's! Expect some first-years + Niko-nii dynamics and Honoka pwning some _youkai _asses.

[3] Please tell your thoughts via review/PM! Thank you for reading, stay tuned.


	3. Chapter 2: FRAGMENT—juliet (2)

**Notes**: [1] Shout-outs:

**lunarsaber12**: Thank you for reading! I myself have come across quite a lot of _onymyouji _-themed fics, and anime with this concept is anything but rare. Glad you liked the summary! Hopefully you'll stay for the ride – this fic will be a long, long one, and also one I intend to finish to the bitter end.  
**Satsuki Rin**: I don't want Honoka to suddenly become a strong, badass Kirito clone so she'll have to _gradually _become one, but I can assure you that she'll be a real badass sooner or later. Anyway, thank you for reading!

* * *

_Nishikino Maki_. The name, by now, was nothing unfamiliar – looks crafted by no one other than Michelangelo himself, brains woven handmade by the famed Einstein – the girl was, in another word, an embodiment of the very concept of perfection. Unlikable and corrosive personality aside, one would be hard-pressed to find the girl as anything but an object of envy, or even, to some girls with unorthodox preferences, an object of romantic affection.

From what she gathered, anyway. Kotori insisted on finding some information concerning the girl who's apparently, Koizumi Hanayo's stalker, before meeting up with Koizumi Hanayo. She was about to ask to Umi for her opinion on what to do next, but with the girl somehow was nowhere in her seat even though the first bell rang already, she decided to plan out her next move herself, sacrificing class for something…that should serve as something to make up for her failing classes. Though, the absence of the honor student bugged her to no end, gnawing on her mind like a midsummer curse, and she found herself glancing to the empty seat next to her, in hope for her childhood friend to suddenly pop out of the thin air, then proceed to apologizing profusely, repeatedly, her head bowing fervently, _I'm sorry, sensei, I overslept from studying too much!, _and she'd joke about it later when lunchtime roll around, much to the taller girl's dismay.

And that was why the sound of the bell, signaling the lunchtime, startled her out of her half-stupor, and it made her twist her head violently toward the hallway and then turn to the clock on the wall accusingly.

Kotori approached her desk, and asked with a small yet noticeable quiver on her voice. "Where could Umi-chan be, I wonder?"

She tried to shrug it off with a joke and a dash of goofy grin, but it was _Sonoda Umi _they were talking about, which ruled out the possibility of the girl skipping class to do, well, anything else besides attending class. Because, _why _would Umi do so? Especially not when the only thing the girl invested her life upon up until the point was studying. And do other boring things. Which is studying.

For a second she was caught with no response, no proper reassurances for the two of them, no witty joke to fling to Kotori, because she too was in the dark of whatever Umi was doing at the time, but for the time being, she decided it would be for the best to keep her frown to herself.

"Don't worry, Kotori-chan," she stood up, and put a reassuring hand on the taller girl's shoulder, smiling from eye to eye, and made herself a smile, "probably nothing serious, maybe she passed out from studying too much," Kotori began to smile at her response, but it was…it was _nowhere _enough, it looked too forced to be natural, but too sincere to be a façade, "it's Umi-chan, after all, ya know, smart, reliable, and stupid and clumsy at the same time."

And they both smiled, although the worries was still there deep down inside and there was no way to push aside the thoughts, simply because they were better as a three than a two, but for now, there were things to take priority, questions to answer, and two girls in need of ambushing – Koizumi Hanayo and her "stalker", Nishikino Maki.

* * *

She received an e-mail from Rin earlier, informing her that "Kayo-chin" was nowhere in her room and Rin herself was on her way to the school library to check whether "Kayo-chin" is there, and thus Honoka halted her track to the first-years dorm and steer clear to a nearby vending machine instead.

The school was over roughly thirty minutes ago and Umi was still yet to be spotted around the school. She'd thought of paying the honor student's dorm room a visit, all goofy grin but worried deep down, with a frozen instant-lunch on one hand while the other is busy rubbing the back of her head nervously – it sounded like it could happen any second, even now, and she had all the time in the world to stroll to the academy's convenience store and buy an actual frozen lunch and rush to the second-years dorm with the speed of a bullet train.

But… something in her stopped her from doing so. Like, the part of her that wanted Umi to have some privacy, and she was kind of not in the mood to see Umi with her glorious boiling fury. It used to be amusing to prank the girl until all her buttons were pushed and she was all wrath and anger. Nowadays, when Umi's lecture start to get into ten thousand words count, it stopped getting fun.

Kotori, on the other hand, parted ways with her some time ago, and was on her own side of information-gathering. Something about her trying to confirm her suspicion towards Koizumi Hanayo, and whatever connection she had with one particular Nishikino Maki, and then maybe somehow they can draw a line from Hoshizora Rin and make a case out of it.

"They all probably have something in-common after all," she mumbled out loud while her eyes scanned to the rather small selection of canned drinks, and most of them are some sort of energy drinks that taste like swallowing electrons, "c'mon, Umi-chan, lend me your brains!"

Finally she settled with an orange juice that tasted too… _boneless _for her liking (she would've thought she drank a sugary water intead had the can wasn't decorated bright orange; what's with this academy and its bland taste of everything?) and, now out of idea for what to do next, decided to head back to her dorm room and maybe try to do some Red magic homework she had left untouched for the past few days.

…at least until, somehow, she felt unsafe all of a sudden. Like she was being _watched_.

The thought of someone out there was somehow… taking an _enjoyment _from watching every of her fidgets. She was starting to feel this sickening feeling from the bottom of her stomach too, like she'd been thoroughly exposed to the whole world, like she was walking along in a spotlight _naked_, and everyone's eyes glazed all over her. Now all she wanted was the safety confine of her room and tuck in under her blanket already, homework be damned.

And now – maybe she was just seeing things – but she could _swear _that there was something moving, an unfocused blur of red and black, scurrying into the direction of the now-abandoned clock tower.

"Gosh, I think I really should give myself a break or two, at this rate I might turn into a bundle of failures _and _a schizo."

Then again, she was also… _curious_.

So, in the end, with a hand gripping her orange juice tightly, she bolted into the direction her not-so-secret stalker took just seconds ago. Her other hand, balled into a fist, found itself craving for a good punching in the face.

* * *

The clock tower was actually not that large in size, as it was a _tower_. It is said that years ago, they used to put some watchmen at the top just in case there's an airborne _youkai _threatening the safety of the academy, but mainly to detect suspicious movement from outside, since the view range from the tall, skyscraping tower made the job easier. Particularly when the academy was roped into an incident forever marked on the history of _onmyouji_, as the academy helped the government in the past.

So when Honoka stepped inside, it was expected for her to be greeted by cloud of dusts and torn cobwebs, informing that someone has recently entered the building.

It was actually the atmosphere that got her, like her gut feelings were telling her to _steer clear from this stuff don't get into anymore trouble wake up Honoka! _and she'd understood why – being an abandoned building with only crates and cobwebs and maybe, a bustling community of insects, the clock tower must be one of those places where students might do… shady stuffs that the teacher probably won't find out until a while later. The academy was littered with _shikigami _owned by the faculty offices and the security staves to ensure that nobody crossed the line.

After fifteen minutes of circling around the ground floor of the clock tower, Honoka finally realized on one thing.

One, that the tower probably had approximately fifty floors.

Two, that while the clock tower had stairs, there was also a lift… operated by, predictably, _magic_.

The lift itself was just a platform with supporting beams and chains holding its sides from the whole way up there. At the middle of the platform stood a tablet with chants carved on it. By infusing the tablet with _ki _(usually by putting your hand above it) the lift will move in the user's accordance. The tablet itself looked like one she saw around the school, but something was amiss, specifically, the tablet itself was rendered unusable. The slab of rock was chained, and a deep blue lock was placed at the center of the tablet, holding the chains' intersecting point in place.

That, and the lock itself had nothing resembling a keyhole in it.

"God, _no_!" She groaned. "It doesn't take a genius to pinpoint where my stalker has gone off to."

The idea of calling someone for help tempted her greatly, but… what if the person stalking her is a dangerous, underworld criminal? The thought of putting someone in danger disgusted her to the point of ruling out the plan.

Five minutes of inactivity and grumpy grumblings later, she realized something. "Wait, if the platform is down there, then there couldn't be someone up there!"

And another realization hit her in the head: that she just wasted twenty minutes of her life lounging around in an abandoned tower.

Still… everything just didn't sit right. This wasn't the first time she paid visit to the tower. There were times where she just _had to _skip classes due to unfinished homework (and rather impossible to finish for anyone but _Sonoda Umi_) and spend the time until lunch break here. And while she can be forgetful at times, a lock without a keyhole was something that lasted an impression on someone no matter how much of an airhead they might be.

And, well, the last time she skipped class was just recently.

Honoka nearly jumped when she heard the door creaking open behind her, but what surprised her most is the surprised look of a surprised surprising visitor – _Nishikino Maki_, in all her surprised glory.

"Wh," Nishikino Maki opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again, then opened it again, and Honoka wondered how many more rounds of opening-and-closing will she have to endure before Maki finally utter something resembling a word to her, "wh, what are you doing here. Who are you."

She took a step closer to the underclassman with her hand wagged in attempt to show that she meant no harm. The gesture, however, backfired on her, as not only Nishikino Maki took three steps back – getting further away from her – the way her face scrunched up and her shoulders tensed, she already labeled her a "danger" from the get-go.

"Don't get close to me."

"Um." Honoka found herself at loss of words. She tried to come up with a realistic-sounding reason _why_ she was even there, in the _abandoned _clock tower, fiddling with the mysterious lock (actually mindlessly trying to force her way with the lock, but it was for the better to omit this part…). Not knowing what to say, she settled with, "Hi."

Nishikino Maki took another step back, this time larger than the last.

"A, anyway, Nishikino Maki-san,"

"How do you know my name?!"

Honoka frowned. _This girl, ugh_. "You're actually real famous, you know! Anyway," she slipped in a cough, "I have a few questions, if you don't mind. It's, uh, about Koizumi Hanayo-san."

At this point, she concluded that the mention of Koizumi Hanayo's name was more than enough to bring someone to a grimace. Just like Rin, Maki didn't bother to hide the uneasiness spreading on her face like wildfire. It was the way her fists clenched, so tight Honoka feared she might tear her own skin apart – the way her eyebrows, knitted, creased into a frown deeper than the one etched on her lips. Maki was so alarmed she feared they might broke into a fight – and if she were to make a bet on which of the two will come out as the victor, it doesn't take a genius for one to bet on Nishikino Maki, who held the percentage of 110% of coming out as the last man standing.

"Who are you," Maki managed to say even with her gritted teeth, and it almost sounded like she was seething instead.

"Probably not the guy you're looking for," Honoka tried. Judging from Maki, who looked even more angered, she didn't succeed in getting her way out of this.

"That's what they told me!" Maki shouted back, and pulled a paper talisman from the pocket of her blazer. "By now, I have learned that it's their _modus operandi_. Now tell me, where is Koizumi Hanayo?"

"Cut me some slack, I don't even know how she looked like!"

She was about to say something, anything to defend her innocence – unfortunately, her words were cut off as she sprinted away from the place she was standing for the last minutes, dodging the arrow-shaped _ki _energy honing on her. "Nishikino Maki-san!" She called out, but the only response she got was the quiet murmur of a chant from the underclassman, that, and she had successfully pulled another _ofuda, _readying herself for another offensive magic. Honoka wasted no time, and stepped further backwards, away from the chanting girl. "Hear me out, will you? I don't even know what you're talking about! _Who _is Koizumi Hanayo anyway? Why is she _the center _of _everything_?" She paused, took a deep breath. "Why am I even here?"

Honoka, once again, was the target of _ki _arrows launching at her. This time, instead of stepping away, she made a dash to Nishikino Maki, sidestepping on her way, suppressing her urge to scream right away whenever she heard the loud _BZZII—IING! _of _ki _arrows planting themselves deep in the tower's wall, creating fresh small cracks.

"Stop right there!" Maki commanded, but Honoka didn't pay her even an ounce of heed. She pulled her third _ofuda, _chanted, then threw it to Honoka's direction – the rune-scribbled paper turned into harpoon arrows comprised of _ki, _ready to pierce any flesh before them. "Tell me _where _Koizumi Hanayo is and I'll consider your life."

One of the arrows grazed her skin, and she quickly halted her running, crouching down to check on her leg. She winced as she felt the burning sensation of spreading onto every of her nerves, but quickly bounced up, ignoring the sharp stinging pain. Her eyes widened when she narrowly evaded the sharp icicle manifesting from the ground below, its sharp end stuck up to the level of her chin. Nishikino Maki probably didn't intend to end her life, but was simply aiming to immobilize her – an interrogation was on the way. She didn't waste any more time and strutted past the ice pillars, balled her right hand into a strong, tight fist, pulled it back, and when she was jus thirty centimeters away from the first year prodigy, launched the fist – straight at Maki's gaping face, throwing her off-guard, sending her tumbling backwards to the pile of crates stacked behind her.

The realization hit her in the face.

She just _knocked out _Nishikino Maki, who was sent to the ground, by her _fist_.

"Um," Honoka said, not sure what to say next, "sorry. I didn't mean to, er, punch you square in the face – it's purely self-defense, really!"

Maki stood up, brushing the backside of her skirt and cloud of dusts formed around her. "You didn't use any magic,"

"Well, duh, cause I _can't _use any of them."

Maki quieted down, as if she was contemplating something, while her hand absently wiped the bits of blood trickling from her lower lip, and Honoka noticed the way Maki flinched when her fingers accidentally brushed on her bruised cheek. "I see," Maki started, a small tremble in her voice, probably from the shock of hitting wooden crates earlier, "then you can't possibly the one who set the lock."

Honoka arched a curious eyebrow at Maki's vague statement. "What lock?"

"There," she followed Maki's finger, pointing weakly at the chains and the single lock tangled around the platform's control tablet, "the lock is blocking _ki _sent to the tablet, thus the lift isn't usable, and that means we can't reach the top floor."

"Yeah, but why would you want to go to the top floor anyway?"

"Koizumi Hanayo haven't returned to her dorm since last night – I have sent my _shikigami_s to look around the campus for her, but, the search didn't turn up any positive result."

"You can't possibly mean that – "

"The top floor of this tower," Maki cut Honoka's words right away, tilting her head upwards to the tall ceiling of the first floor, "is the only place I haven't checked – the lock rendered the tablet unusable, and there's no other way to get to the top floor."

Instinctively, Honoka walked over to the tablet, studying the lock closely and cursing herself for her helplessness – she can't use magic, she's not a girl of intelligence, and Umi was nowhere to be seen, thus she had no one else to consult about the matter to. Kotori, while a smart person on her own, wasn't a connoisseur in the art of _onmyoudou_, and she didn't want to risk putting more weight on the girl's shoulders. There was something peculiar – and _familiar _– about the lock, especially the symbol carved on the center, the place where the keyhole was supposed to be. She brushes her finger over the symbol, and then –

"Did something happen? What's wrong—" she heard the softening, shrinking voice of Maki filled to the brim with worries, but she didn't even turn her head in the slightest, her gazes, or even, _glares _were fixed on the mark. In black ink, a turtle with a dragon as its lower half, looking so overpowering _and _menacing _and _so, so haunting—

"I – I've seen this symbol before,"

"Senpai? Are, are you… alright?"

Honoka breathed out a sigh; feeling deprived of energy all of a sudden, and roughly ruffled her hair, positive that she might have plucked a strand or two. "This is the Sonoda family symbol, and I think we both know who the bad guy is now, since there's only one Sonoda around here," she paused, steeled herself, trying to contain the quiver in her voice, and, "Sonoda Umi – second year, _onmyoudou _art extraordinaire, and one of my best buddies."

* * *

Chapter 2: FRAGMENT—juliet (2)

* * *

**Notes**: [2] Rushed, rushed, rushed, rushed, rushed—I've sworn to myself to finish this chapter before a family trip. Forgive me for the quality – this chapter was also pretty stubborn for me to write. Writing something so… novel, and of the fantasy genre, even, was an entirely new experience for me. Also sorry for the badly-written fight scene… it was intended to be a quick one, and the real deal will be in the next chapter!

[3] Someone please get the NikoMaki duet song out of my head.

[3.5] I'm still praying for a HonoUmi duet even though the chance of it happening is nearly nil by now.

[4] Anybody here play SIF? (Let's add each other hee-hee. PM me your ID so I can add you!)

[5] Reviews and feedbacks are really appreciated. I really can use some tips in writing.


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